Roy Hodgson's side made a meek exit from Brazil last summer, picking up a solitary point in the group phase and failing to make it to the knockout stage.

It was England's worst performance at a major tournament and fans made known their dismay in the aftermath, with poor crowds at Wembley reflecting that sense of disillusionment.

But Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley is a sell-out, and England have restored supporters' belief in them by winning every game so far in the qualifying campaign to open up a six-point lead in Group E.

Manchester City keeper Hart accepts the dismal showing in Brazil saw many fans lose faith with England, but believes the players have gone a long way to winning them back with subsequent displays.

On Friday being a sell-out, despite the opposition not being high profile, Hart said: “That’s a fantastic feeling if I'm honest.

“I think all of us fully understood the crowds after the World Cup. We didn’t do well. There was a lot of promise but we didn’t live up to it. You can’t hide from that fact.

“But we're are the kind of nation that's going to dig in and we'll fight, we want to win every game that we play. We're in a massive stadium and we appreciate it's difficult to sell out Wembley.

“Sometimes, with games in the week, it's difficult for the kids to come - we understand they've got to be in bed early - but it's great to play in front of a full house at Wembley.

(Photo: Mike Hewitt - FIFA)

“We're happy with whoever turns up but a full house is going to be a good night for us.”

Hart has recaptured his very best form for club and country after being dropped by City boss Manuel Pellegrini for seven Premier League games last season.

That experience has helped make Hart a better keeper and the 27-year-old believes the episode was ultimately beneficial to him, despite him not knowing it at the time.

“That’s just part of football,” said Hart. “It was my time to come out of the team according to the manager last year.

“I had to sit back and think ‘how am I going to make the best of this?' because it's easy to make the best of good times, but that was obviously a difficult time for me.

(Photo: Getty)

“But I sat back, thought about what I needed to do, worked well with the manager, got myself back in the team and got back to playing.

“I never wanted to come out of the team, of course I didn’t. But I realised my form wasn’t great and the manager’s decision, he had to make it.

“It wasn’t an unfair decision at the time. I never wanted to come out of the team but when I did, I spoke to him, we had a good line of communication and I wanted to make the best of the time out of it.”

Hart is two caps short of 50 for England and has established himself as his country's undisputed No.1.

(Photo: Action Images)

But he insists he does not take his status for granted, aware of the competition from the likes of Jack Butland, Robert Green, as well as injured duo Fraser Forster and Ben Foster.

“I'm honoured to play every single game I have done for England, and for it to be 48 so far is fantastic,” said Hart. “But I just want to keep playing.

“There are plenty of other English goalkeepers who want to do the same and I'm fully aware of that. I've got a lot of hard work to do to keep my place and I'm willing to do that.”

Hart made a series of one-one-one saves to deny Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, but said he is not getting carried away by the high praise from arguably the world's best player.

“I'd like to see how he worded it,” said Hart. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t quite as simply as that. He was obviously asked about the game and he has to make comments, so I'm not going to get too carried away with it.

“He's a fantastic player and for him to comment on me is great, but I'm not getting carried away.”